The Hobbit

The elegance of The Hobbit J.R.R. Tolkien's rousing tale of Bilbo Baggins helping a passel of dwarves reclaim their mountain home is that the epic spans just a few hundred pages.

Moviegoers, on the other hand, could have first breakfast, second breakfast and elevenses in the nearly three hours it takes director Peter Jackson to deliver the first third of this trilogy in The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey. (Part 2 is slated for next year.)

It helps that the cast is so engaging, particularly Martin Freeman as Bilbo, a kind, fussy sort torn between the comforts of his divinely cozy hobbit hole and the promise of adventure.

The dashing young royal told guests at the special screening of the tale from Middle Earth that Kate would have "loved" to have attended the event. But the expectant mom has had to cancel a number of appearances while she battles severe morning sickness caused by hyperemesis gravidarum.

Wellington Airport, in New Zealand, has a new official greeter: Gollum, the misunderstood monster from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Hobbit and Lord of the Rings novels and Peter Jackson's movie adaptations.

His arrival comes just ahead of Oscar-winner Jackson's The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey, which opens next month. Like Jackson's Rings movies, it too was shot in New Zealand.

"Wellington Airport feels like the home of Gollum after spending so many months here during the last three films," Sir Richard Taylor, of the Weta Workshop – which manufactured and installed Gollum from Japanese fine arts sculptor Masayuki Ohashi's design – tells Wellington's Dominion Post.